BREAKING NEWS

Michigan day care worker stuck children with thumbtack, investigators say

By:
Ann Smajstrla, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Updated: Mar 14, 2019 - 5:54 PM

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Michigan day care worker stuck children with thumbtack, investigators say

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. - The license of a Michigan day care center has been revoked and an investigation is underway after an employee stabbed children with a thumbtack, state authorities said.

State investigators said that on two different days in November 2018, the lead caregiver at ABC Early Learning Center hid a tack in her fingers and used it to prick children. Former day care employee Angelique Turner told WDIV-TV she saw the incident happen both times.

“When I saw her get the thumbtack, I didn’t know what she was going to do with it. And then she called the children over to her and poked one in the shoulder," she said.

Turner recorded the second incident with her cellphone camera. She told a child’s parent about the assault before reporting it to the program director -- who is the mother of the lead caregiver.

Per the state report, nothing was done.

A state investigator visited the day care Nov. 30 and questioned the program director, who denied knowledge of the incident, MLive reported. When the investigator returned a week later and showed the program director Turner’s video, she admitted that she knew of the incident. She said she hadn’t seen the video until then.

The Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs suspended the day care’s license on March 6.

"Due to the serious nature of the above violations and the potential risk it represents to vulnerable children in licensee's care, emergency action is required," said LARA director Mark Jansen in a statement.

The licensee, Brown Investment Group, has appealed the order and requested an administrative hearing, LARA spokesman Pardeep Toor told The Detroit Free Press. A hearing has not yet been scheduled.